PCSO recommended for ISO certification

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) was recommended for International Organization for Standardization (ISO) certification last Friday.

Last Dec. 3, PCSO hurdled the first-stage audit of independent auditors John Francis Faustorillo (lead auditor), Lei May Maza, Eleanor Tan and Hilario Capili, general manager Jose Ferdinand Rojas II said.  

“It received the green light to proceed to second-stage audit on Dec. 17 and 18,” he said.

A two-day second-stage audit of gaming-related core and agency support processes was then conducted, he added.

At the closing meeting on Dec. 18, the auditors gave PCSO four positive findings and 17 opportunities for improvement, understandable considering that this is the first time that PCSO has implemented ISO standards, Rojas said.

“It was an interesting and eventful journey for the agency, whose personnel negotiated a steep learning curve to familiarize themselves with ISO standards and apply them to the core processes of conduct and management of Lotto draw and prize claim operations,” he said.

The ISO standards were also applied to support processes: accounting and treasury, legal, human resources, assets and supply management, general services, information technology, data security and corporate planning.

Moreover, new processes were developed for document control and customer survey. 

Gaming sector assistant general manager Conrado   Zabella was named the agency’s deputy quality management representative, and in that role guided the PCSO ISO Technical Working Group which facilitated and coordinated the process for the entire agency.

By receiving a recommendation for ISO certification before the end of this year, PCSO fulfills one of its performance targets set by the Governance Commission for GOCCs (GCG), which gave a weight of 10 percent to this key result area. 

GCG has also set a 2016 target for PCSO to obtain certification for its charity assistance-related core and support processes.

This is a challenging target because to be included in its scope are the processes and procedures for requests for assistance not only at the head office in Metro Manila and the satellite office at the Lung Center of the Philippines, but also at the 50-and-counting branches of PCSO nationwide. The move to obtain ISO certification is aligned with the administration’s priority direction toward the professionalization of the civil service and the improvement of operations and service delivery in the fulfillment of mandates, duties and responsibilities. In line with this is the strict implementation of Executive Order No. 605, s. 2007, which requires “all departments and agencies of the executive branch, including all government-owned and controlled corporations and government financial institutions” to adopt a Quality Management System (QMS) and obtain ISO certification.

Likewise encouraged to do the same are state universities and colleges, local government units, the judiciary, legislature and constitutional offices.